Corban's Birth Story Part 1

Well, let's see if I can remember the details. This time around I was already pretty tired to start things off, so I had a harder time keeping up with things as they were happening let alone remembering them afterward.

We planned an induction for Corban because of Britt's work schedule (and me not wanting to be pregnant longer than necessary nor have a huge baby - Rachel was 8lb 12oz and I didn't want bigger than that). I struggled a bit with the decision at first. Even at the end I wondered as I wasn't dilating at all during the last month of pregnancy like I had with the others. We chose Thanksgiving Day after finding out when my doctor (new to us for this pregnancy, but I worked with her almost exclusively) would be available, and I would be exactly 39 weeks which is the earliest the hospital allows for elective inductions, and luckily, we were able to ensure Britt would have that day off as well. I had joked with people a long time before that maybe the baby would come that day, so I felt a little silly choosing that day. We still did not have a baby name picked out by the induction day. We had a few names in mind but really hadn't had much time to discuss or debate names because Britt had been so busy with work.

The week before the induction, my OB had outlined a plan for the coming week. She said she could strip membranes the Tuesday before at my appointment to help things along. Then, there was a possibility to place a foley bulb to help stretch my cervix. When I went in on Tuesday, I was an emotional wreck. I was having doubts because I hadn't dilated any more. I was worn out. Britt was super busy, and I worried that if we stripped membranes the baby would come before Britt could be there (although his rotation was at the same hospital I would deliver at). I ended up crying to my doctor about some of my concerns and told her I wasn't even feeling excited to have the baby because I felt like things had been so busy I couldn't enjoy things. Bless her heart, she listened to me and changed our plan a little bit to help me feel better. We stuck with the induction day without trying to do anything ahead of time (like make a trip to the hospital on Wed for the foley bulb). She told me to take it easy and spend some calm time with Britt before coming in for the induction. I was very grateful for her advice and her concern for me.

Melinda came to our house to be with the kids when we went to the hospital. I have definitely been blessed to have Melinda as close as she has been. She has helped me out so many times. Thank you, Melinda!! The kids were excited to have her here. Let me take a step back, though, and say that Logan had been really concerned about me that last week. I had told the kids what would be happening, and I think it scared Logan somehow. He wanted to go with me to my doctor appointment; he wanted to know where I would be all the time. I was hoping that having Melinda here while we were gone would make it all okay for him, and I think it did. Rachel also was sick with a fever on Wed, and I was really hoping she'd be better the next day so that I wouldn't be bringing a newborn baby home to a sick house.

We were told to check in at the hospital at 12:30am on November 24. I didn't sleep really before going in nor did I rest much that day before. I did eat a slice of pecan pie that Melinda brought me before going in to the hospital. Britt was super wiped out, so he slept any chance he could during the whole induction. I was really frustrated because we checked in and had to wait for more than an hour before they were ready to do anything with us. We sat in triage for so long for nothing. We did try to discuss baby names then, but still couldn't narrow it down. I finally got taken back to the delivery room by my nurse.

The nurse started my IV. My doctor and a resident came in to place the foley bulb (I think they told me I'd have that in for about 4 hours, at which point it should slide out easily because I would be dilated to a 5). That was an uncomfortable procedure though not as bad as I thought it may be. My doctor ended up taking over on the placement because the resident was having a hard time with it. Again, I felt blessed that my doctor was aware of me as a person. Again, I was told I wouldn't need to rush on getting the epidural even though I would be getting pitocin to start my contractions. So, the waiting game. I tried to sleep then but just couldn't really. I started noticing contractions though they weren't painful. Anyway, boring waiting time. I finally asked to do the epidural in the 6 o'clock hour before change of shift. The anesthesiologist only had to poke once and was efficient, but he was not very gentle at all. It was quite uncomfortable having it placed. After it was working, I again felt like my left side got way more numb than my right. This time I noticed that changing my position had an effect on the numbness caused by the epidural. There were even times I could feel the pressure of contractions more but still no pain. The nurse told me I could push a button to have more medicine administered if I was noticing feeling, so I did end up pushing maybe 3 different times. That was all new for me as I'd never had to do that before with the others.

My doctor had promised to stay as long as it took for me to deliver that day, but I felt bad that I was keeping her later than she should be. People came in often enough to interrupt any sleep I tried to get. My new nurse was like a grandma, and she ended up being awesome. Things still seemed to be progressing rather slowly, and I was afraid it would take all day. They ended up breaking my water to help things along (I think that was around 10am). When they checked me then, I think I was still a 5 or 6. After that I tried to rest a bit but couldn't really. I started to feel pressure some of the time. As I kept trying to rest, I decided I was feeling pressure near my bottom (again, surprising to feel anything with the epidural going), and I wondered if it was like I've heard women say about feeling the need to bear down. I woke Britt up once to tell him about it and wondered if I should call my nurse. Shortly after that, my nurse came in and asked if I was feeling any different. I explained that I was feeling that pressure, and she got excited and said it was getting close. She said the baby was cutting out of the monitor any time I had a contraction and that would indicate that baby had descended  a bit. My doctor and a different resident came in to check on things, and lo, and behold, I was a ten and the baby was already crowning. Say what?!?! We woke Britt and told him it was baby time. This was at ten after 11. Somewhere in here, Britt turned and asked me what I thought of the name Corban. I was like, where did that come from because that name had never come up before. I told Britt we could talk about it after we delivered since it was time to have the baby now.  Everyone got situated, and I started pushing when I felt that pressure. I felt his head right away, and that made me feel excited that we were so close. I pushed a few times each contraction, but it really was only like 4 contractions, and he was out (way different that my other babies where I pushed for 40 min or so). They put the baby right on me before weighing or measuring or cleaning him. I tore, so my doctor took some time stitching me up.

It felt so wonderful to have my baby in my arms. He seemed to nurse okay once everyone left. I kept him for quite a while, and we finally asked the nurse about weighing him. He was 7lb 11oz, so definitely smaller than I had thought/been worried about. He was 20.5 inches long. We still got to hang out for a while in the delivery room. We ended up asking my nurse if she'd like to give the baby his bath (as she'd mentioned something about not getting to do that anymore since usually that's done on the postpartum floor). Finally I was transferred to the postpartum floor. I could barely stand up to transfer to the wheelchair, as my left side was still really numb. Melinda brought the other kids at dinner time, and Britt took them to the cafeteria for a Thanksgiving feast. He ended up taking the kids home that night, and Melinda spent the night with me. He slept quite a bit, and I was grateful for that, though I don't think I slept that much any way. I'll write a part two post about his name.

February 2017

Someday I may backtrack and try to catch up on some things from the last six months. But, for today, I will post a few pictures from this month.

Dad had a sleepover with the kids in the living room.

Dad and Emilee went to the Father-Daughter dance at Tavan Elementary.

 Corban worked on his muscles and on smiling.

 Valentine's Day dinner. I had the kids order off a menu with funny valentine words so they didn't know what they were getting. It worked out great, and the kids want to do it again. I think I will make this a valentine tradition. (Thanks to the DatingDivas blog!)

 This girl and the mud!!

 We took Britt to the temple, and Rachel asked for her picture to be taken (probably because we saw other people doing it).

 Tavan Science and Engineering Night. We're proud of our kids' work.

I got to meet up with Logan's class for their field trip to Tolmachoff Farms. 

 The girls decided to paint yesterday. They got all set up and were very professional-looking.

 My dapper young men!

Sunday afternoon nap.

Is it fall yet?

School starting means fall is coming. But, not when school starts in August and it's still 110+ degrees outside. The kids were super excited to start school, and things have been going well. It took me a while to adjust to getting back in town, getting supplies, sending them off, and learning that Emilee's class is part of a pilot program her school is starting this year. All good things, though. I actually was excited to send the kids to school - I finally understand that one now.

Rachel's birthday. She picked out purple frosting, and we made lightly tinted purple cupcakes to go with it. No big party this year. We did invite one other family over to celebrate with us.

We had been talking for a long time (each time there were repairs) about getting rid of our old van. It was bittersweet. The kids were more attached than I thought. And, even with new/netter features, I miss some of the old things such as the tape deck (we listened to old tapes from Grandma & Grandpa C some of the time -- classics from childhood trips like The Ugly Duckling, The Gingerbreak Man, Hansel and Grettel, and Rumplestiltskin) and the individual lights in the back for the kids (they would sometimes turn on one or two to read with at night, but now there is only one central light in the back).

Britt had one of his 3 vacation weeks. Unfortunately the kids were still in school that week. Since we couldn't take a trip anywhere, we decided to do something fun in the valley. I found coupons for LegoLand here, so we went one afternoon as soon as we picked the kids up from school. We had them eat in the car on the way over so we wouldn't waste any time there.
It did not disappoint. We had a lot of fun, and we stayed almost 3 hours; I think the kids (Logan especially) would have stayed all day.

...

Alaskan Adventures Week 6

7/31-8/5

Britt built a fort (or something) with the kids on Sunday morning to pass the time before church. After church, the ward had a linger longer that we stayed for and enjoyed sandwiches, salads, chips, and ice cream. The kids were a bit wild in the gym, but they're just being kids, right? We wanted to try to get in a visit north of Anchorage for Britt, so we took off for an evening stroll around Reflection Lake. I wasn't able to find it on the map (I found Mirror Lake...close enough, right?), but we drove north anyway. It was cloudy, so I didn't feel like Britt got the full beauty of the mountains and the drive, but it was still nice. We decided not to stop at Mirror Lake once we got there but continued north for a bit just because (and we had a couple of sleeping kids in the back). We ended up getting to Reflection Lake. We got out an walked around a bit there. It was very pretty and peaceful, but there were mosquitoes all about. The outhouses there were the worst ones of the whole trip (and believe me, Emilee and I used a lot of outhouses this whole trip). Britt and the kids tried skipping rocks in the water. We had to keep our visit quick because it was getting late (yet again).

Monday was a laundry day, I think. And, it was rainy, too. We made treats almost every rainy day. After FHE we played a game of Simon Says that went on way too long.

On Tuesday, the soccer group we joined in with had their last games and a BBQ at a park. The kids were thrilled to have Britt there watching them play that evening. We all enjoyed beautiful weather (it rained all morning) and good company and good food at the park. We stayed a bit late still visiting, I think because we felt like it would be the last time to see them. The kids didn't get to bed that night until 10:30!! I had tried packing some of our stuff on Monday and Tuesday to keep Wednesday an easier day.

Wednesday was the day we were to leave...well in the middle of that night. We went to one last picnic in the park with the ward. We enjoyed the play area and looking at a lake at that park, too. We finished packing things and got hyped up for our flight. I also tried to clean so there wouldn't be a big mess left for Dad. Britt has an uncle who has a lodge in Alaska; he was passing through Anchorage that night, so he stopped by the apartment to visit. He stayed until 10, and I barely got the kids down before he left. Emilee was too excited to sleep that night, and I figured sleeping for one hour wouldn't help me, so we stayed up and slowly set things out to go to the airport. That turned out to be one of the longest nights of our lives! The kids did really well in the airport despite it being in the middle of the night. We snacked and they played on tablets. The flight was to leave at 1:25am. Around 1am, they announced a delay due to mechanical issues. At 1:30, they said the flight was cancelled. It was weird trying to figure out what to do. I called Britt to come pick us up. At this point, the kids started going down hill a little; they didn't like that we were changing plans and having to head back to the apartment. We didn't get back to the apartment until 3:30 or so. I think I only slept from 4-7am due to my anxiety and trying to figure out what our new flight would be. Unfortunately our new flight would be the coming night at 12:45am. Two nights of no sleep!!

We pretty much wasted that Thursday. I was tired and didn't feel like doing much - we should have done something amazing. That night both Rachel and Emilee stayed awake. Arrgh! That meant no sleep for me before the flight either. I even tried moving the clocks ahead one hour to get the kids down before the flight. It only worked for Logan. The kids did okay in the airport (again snacks and tablets). They were so excited on the plane. They (Logan and Rachel) cheered and were loud at take off. I think it took about an hour before they fell asleep. This flight was just over 3 hours.

 Then we had a layover in Seattle for three hours. I thought that might be a bit long, but it worked out perfectly. The airport in Seattle was fun. We got to ride a subway from one terminal to another. We ate breakfast while watching planes land and take off. We went to the kids' play area for almost an hour. Then it was time to trek over to our gate. The time passed quickly. I tried to get kids to sleep again on that flight (another 3 hour one), and Rachel and Logan slept for about half of it; Emilee sat in the row behind us and had fun being a grown up and not sleeping. I slept a little. There was more drama to be had. Our neighbor who was to pick us up in our van couldn't get it to start that morning (luckily he was trying it out early), so he called me while we were leaving Seattle; I was able to text Britt and Melinda to work things out while we were taxiing. So, when we landed in Phoenix just before noon, Melinda picked us up, and luckily we all fit (including luggage) into her vehicle.

It was good finally making it back home. I was so glad that Melinda was able to stay the whole rest of the day. I kind of flipped out as there was one thing after another to deal with once we got home (leaking sprinkler system -- still not fixed, meet the teacher at school, ultrasound appointment for me, how to get the van started), but we were blessed to get some things worked out easily. The kids were so off and tired that day. Sleep was very welcome that night. Britt was supposed to stay one extra week. I had the weekend to get the kids prepared and ready for school. The next Wednesday (the day of Britt's flight home), Britt was told to stay in Alaska (indefinitely) while the next person to go up waited for approval on his Alaska medical license. That was a very frustrating week, and it was difficult to explain to the kids since we had no idea of the timeframe. Again, we were blessed, and Britt was able to come home one week later (though we didn't know until that next Tues that he would come home Thurs).

This whole trip was quite amazing overall. I's so glad we were able to go to Alaska and have so many neat experiences. I'm  grateful for God's love and blessings. We were blessed to find friends while we were there, and we got to be with Britt instead of apart.